Criminalization of the Mentally Ill: an Inquiry into the Quality of Life of Post-release Offenders with Psychiatric Illness

Failures by the mental health system to adequately adjust to the demands of deinstitutionalization have led to the criminalization of the mentally ill. Because of these failures, the criminal justice system has been left to deal with this enormous and increasing problem. In fact, incarceration has become the leading provider of mental health care in the United States. When the mentally ill are finally released from incarceration, they often face exacerbated struggles that have a profound impact on their quality of life. Prior research suggests that a better understanding of the quality of life of post-release offenders with psychiatric illnesses will make way for better social service interventions and decreased criminalization. This book provides a background to the problem, a comprehensive study of the quality of life of a cohort of post-release offenders with schizophrenia, and provides recommendations for future practical and scholarly application.